Nugent vs Nugent? Different takes on gun rights

Muscician and gun rights activist Ted Nugent addresses a seminar at the National Rifle Association's 140th convention in Pittsburgh Sunday, May 1, 2011.

Gene J. Puskar/AP

If you hear the name “Nugent,” you may start recalling the lineup of extreme statements made by far-right rock musician Ted Nugent.

In April of 2012, Nugent scored a meeting with the U.S. Secret Service for remarks he made at the annual National Rifle Association convention. “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year,” Nugent said at the event. Ted Nugent is both alive and not in prison despite President Obama’s reelection.

In the aftermath of the Newtown massacre and the subsequent push for expanded background checks and other gun-control measures, Nugent has continued to speak out on the pro-gun side of the debate.

In February, Nugent sat down with CNN’s Piers Morgan (in a gun shop) to talk gun-rights. The conversation quickly escalated to the point that Nugent accused Morgan of being “obsessed with guns.”

But there’s another Nugent talking about Second Amendment rights these days, though in a far less polarizing tone. Jeffrey Nugent, Ted’s older brother, presented his take on gun-rights in a Washington Post op-ed published on Friday.

I want all those who are qualified to purchase a gun to be able to do so. But—and here is where I part ways with my brother—not everyone is qualified to own a gun, so expanded background checks should be a legislative priority.

Nugent says background checks should not be seen as an attack on liberty.

Enhanced background checks need not threaten the Second Amendment. Why are the NRA and the elected representatives who support it so slow to realize this? Or do they fear a slippery slope toward greater restrictions on gun rights? If they don’t want to burden a flawed system, they should be part of fixing it.

Jeffrey Nugent says his brother “speaks in extremes to make his points,” and calls on the new NRA leadership to advocate background checks. However, given the slate of individuals leading the charge at the National Rifle Association, that seems unlikely.